Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко
Aliaksandr Lukashenka met today with Aung Lin Dwe, Speaker of the House of Nationalities of the Assembly of the Union of Myanmar. He congratulated his guest on what he described as the end of an acute period in the country’s history.
“I congratulate you on what I believe is the successful conclusion of an acute political period in Myanmar. I am absolutely convinced that all paths are now open to you to develop your domestic economy and support your people. You have many friends around the world. You can be sure of that,” he said.
In 2021, Myanmar experienced a military coup, followed by the violent suppression of protests and the outbreak of a civil war. Parliamentary elections were held in the country last winter, but not across its entire territory. Despite this, members of parliament were elected, some of them appointed by the military. The parliament later elected military leader Min Aung Hlaing as president. In April this year, he imposed military rule in 60 administrative districts of the country.
Lukashenka noted that the political relationship between the leadership of Belarus and Myanmar had reached a high level, and that economic ties should catch up.
“I welcome you to Belarus. It is good that you have come at this particular time, when we are actively working out future areas of cooperation with your country. And not merely areas of cooperation, but future contracts and concrete projects between your country and Belarus.
If I am to be completely frank while speaking diplomatically, I must say that we can achieve much more in trade and economic relations than we are achieving now. At the very least, our political relations have moved far ahead of our economic ties. The economy needs to catch up with the level of our political relations,” Lukashenka said.
He added that parliamentarians should also help accelerate this process.
“I am absolutely convinced that parliamentarians should, if not be ahead of the presidents in this respect, then at least serve as a genuine pillar of our countries’ leadership in advancing Belarus’s interests in Myanmar and Myanmar’s interests in Belarus.
Your visit shows that Myanmar’s parliamentarians are ready to act in this area and are already doing so. I assure you that our parliamentarians will not lag behind either.
We are committed to building serious relations between our two countries because there are solid foundations, including economic ones, for successful cooperation in the future. We simply must not waste time but move forward. The rapid development of international relations is pushing us in this direction. The current situation demands it,” he said.
In turn, Aung Lin Dwe conveyed greetings to Lukashenka from Min Aung Hlaing.
“I believe that your close relations with the President of Myanmar and your reciprocal visits create opportunities for cooperation. I am pleased to see that we have managed to maintain warm and friendly relations between our countries, and that cooperation in various areas is expanding year by year,” he said.